Hennessey gets patriotic with Venom GT “World’s Fastest Edition”

Last month, the Hennessey Performance (HPE) Venom GT skidded into the record books when it hit over 270 mph at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. To commemorate this event, as well as snatching a Guinness World Record by doing 0 to 300 km/h (186 mph) in 13.63 seconds, HPE is rolling out its very limited-run World’s Fastest Edition (WFE) Venom GT with a special livery.

On February 14, the Venom GT hit 270.49 mph (435.31 km/h) on the 3.2-mi (5.1 km) Space Shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center, setting a new world speed record for a production series two-seat sports car. Though the speed was independently confirmed, the run by Brian Smith, Director of Miller Motorsport Park, test driver, vehicle dynamic engineer, and authorized by NASA’s Performance Power LLC Space Act Agreement, is still unofficial because the space agency did not allow the Venom to do a second run in the opposite direction on the same day, as the rules require.

The special edition’s livery has a patriotic flair. According HPE founder John Hennessey, “The Venom GT is America’s supercar and it broke 270 mph on the same runway where the Space Shuttle landed at the Kennedy Space Center. We wanted to offer a special paint scheme that would incorporate the colors of the American flag – the same flag we flew on the Space Shuttle runway. Thus, our special livery package includes a body in white with red and blue stripes.”

The company attributes the Venom GT’s record-breaking speed to its 7.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine cranking a daft 1,244 bhp (928 kW) mounted in a car weighing only 2,743 lb (1,244 kg) for a power to weight ratio of 1 bhp/kg. The light weight of the body is due to its aluminum construction, carbon-fiber bodywork, and featherweight carbon-ceramic brakes.

If you want one of the WFE cars, you’re already out of luck. Only three are being built and they’ve all been sold for a cool US$1.25 million each.